


Music of Your Life

by spibsy (lucy_and_ramona)



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M, Realization
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-14
Updated: 2012-03-14
Packaged: 2018-01-07 06:40:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1116696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucy_and_ramona/pseuds/spibsy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Niall's not sure why it took Louis to figure out he's in love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Music of Your Life

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fic I ever wrote on my own for this fandom. I feel ooooold.

Niall's spent a year trying to figure this out. He doesn't know why it took him so long, really. He's had crushes before, he's been in love, or the schoolboy version of it, anyway. He should know what this is before it's pointed out to him, shouldn't he?

But that's not how it works out. It works out, of course, as a succession of moments, all brought on by one person: Louis Tomlinson.

Louis is smart, much smarter than people give him credit for. He may act crazy, but he knows more about what's going on within his band than anyone else, without fail.

The first time he brings it up, Liam smiles at him, Niall smiles back, and once Liam turns back around, Louis leans forward and whispers in Niall's ear, "Try and look a bit less like a lovesick puppy, 'ey?"

He squawks quietly, turning around to ask him what the hell he's talking about, but the photographer barks at him, so he leaves it, making a mental note to bring it up later.

He forgets, of course, at least until the next time.

What Niall doesn't forget, though, is what Louis said. "Try and look a bit less like a lovesick puppy, 'ey?"

Is that it? Niall's known for a while now that the way he feels about Liam's slightly different from the way he feels about his other friends, but he hadn't thought of it as lovesick in any way. It's sort of a butterfly kind of feeling, but Niall feels butterflies all the time nowadays. He feels butterflies when Harry shoots him a cheeky wink, or when Zayn ruffles his hair, or when Louis laughs at one of his jokes.

It's different with Liam, though. It's always been different, and Niall's never been sure of why.

(He's pretty sure of why now, though, after Louis's comment.)

So maybe he's got a crush on Liam. It isn't a crime, is it? Niall's known he likes boys for a long time. It's never been a big deal. Girls look nice, and sometimes boys look nice. The way he feels about Liam adds to it, though, the intimacies of friendship twisted with the pangs of 'Oh, Liam looks nice today, doesn't he?'

Feelings being involved changes it. Liam being involved changes it.

"Try and look a bit less like a lovesick puppy, 'ey?"

It's Louis's fault he's even thinking about this. It's always Louis's fault.

\--

_. . . Are you gonna drop the bomb or not? . . ._

"Busy?" Niall asks as he plops down next to Liam, putting his feet up on the table in front of the sofa.

Liam smiles at him and shrugs a shoulder, arm automatically lifting to drape over Niall's shoulders. "Course not, not too busy for you."

It makes Niall's stomach flip, and he mentally damns Louis again for drawing his attention to this feeling at all. "You're sure?" he asks, not wanting to interrupt Liam if he was doing any heavy thinking. "I can pester Zayn instead."

Liam's arm tightens almost imperceptibly. "He's already pestering Harry." He grins, ruffling the back of Niall's hair. They've all picked up the habit of doing that from Zayn, and it has the same effect every time. Niall feels warm inside, warm and happy. It's a good feeling. One of the best.

"Well then I guess I'd better stay to pester you." Niall glances over to see Louis grinning at him, his eyes flicking to Liam's arm and then back.

He ignores it, turning back to Liam.

"You're not pestering me," the other boy is saying. "I like having you around. It's like a little bit of sanity in the middle of all the craziness."

"It's insane, isn't it?" Niall agrees, looking out at all the people milling around them. "All this?"

"Mental." Liam's voice is quiet, reflective. "A year ago, I wouldn't have even dreamed of this."

"I don't think any of us expected this." Niall sets a hand lightly on Liam's thigh. He considers what he's about to say for a moment before deciding to just go for it. "I'm glad it's with you." His voice is quiet to make sure they're the only ones who'll hear.

Liam looks back over at him, and for a moment, Niall thinks he might see something in his gaze, something more. But the moment passes, and it's just Liam again, smiling and laughing softly.

"I'm glad it's with you, too, Niall." He settles his hand on top of Niall's, letting his fingers sink into the spaces where Niall's part and squeezing gently. "I'm really glad."

Niall doesn't even want to think about what Louis's face looks like right now. He knows his own face must be bright red, but he manages a smile that hopefully doesn't look as manic as it feels. He squeezes Liam's hand back, and looks out at the passersby again, perfectly content in this moment in time.

\--

_. . . Baby you light up my world like nobody else. . ._

"What're you up to?" Liam asks, crouching next to him as Niall skips rocks into the pond off to their left.

"What it looks like, mostly. Bored," he admits. He grabs another rock, making a disgruntled noise before discarding it.

"What was wrong with that one?" Liam inquires. He stands as Niall does, bouncing on his toes a little. They're all full of excess energy.

"Wasn't flat enough." Niall picks up another one and shows it to him. "Now this one, this is a perfect skipping stone. Flat, smooth," he runs his fingers over the surface of it, "and it's wide enough that it'll get some nice surface contact with the water."

"Sounds like a science," Liam notes. "Any other tips? I've never gotten the hang of stone skipping."

"It's easy once you know how," Niall informs him. He hesitates for only a moment before taking Liam's hand and pressing the stone into it. "You take that one, I'll find another one to show you with."

"Alright," Liam says agreeably. He turns the rock over in his hand, warm from Niall's body heat. "Have you always known how to do this?"

"Not always, but since I was young, yeah. My grandad taught me." Niall grabs a stone tightly and yanks it out from the dirt it's halfway wedged in. "This one'll do." He holds it in his hand, curved against the length of his forefinger. "Hold it like this, alright?"

"Got it," Liam says, copying Niall's grip. "Like this?"

"Yeah, exactly." Niall smooths his thumb over the surface of the stone. "Now you keep your thumb over the top there, and your middle finger's on the bottom, like this." He rotates his wrist so that Liam can see how his hand is positioned.

"Alright, is this right?" Liam wrinkles his nose. "Feels a bit awkward."

"Yeah, s'your first time, course it does." Niall corrects Liam's grip just slightly, smiling. "There y'go."

"But that's the easy part, isn't it?" Liam sighs in mock annoyance. "The hardest bit's throwing it."

"You're not really throwing it as much as you're slicing it through the air," Niall corrects, gesturing for Liam to watch as he skips his own. "It has to go through the air before it can go over the water."

"Alright," Liam murmurs, trying to copy Niall's motion. "So it's like tossing a tiny frisbee disc?"

"Yeah, sort of. Go on, try it," Niall encourages. He watches Liam take a deep breath before repeating Niall's motion and zipping the stone through the air. It skips once, twice before sinking into the pond.

"Hey, that wasn't bad!" Liam exclaims, grinning widely. "More'n I usually manage, anyway."

"I thought it was quite good," Niall agrees as Liam claps a hand to his shoulder. "Wanna try another?"

"Oh, shit," Liam curses, glancing back toward the others. "They sent me to come get you actually, and I completely forgot. They want us back, we're supposed to film us jumping off that thing." He gestures to a large white structure.

"Why am I always in danger of breaking my neck in this band?" Niall jokes, stretching and smoothing the sand from his shirt. "Alright, I'll be there in a second, just let me skip one more."

Liam pats his back and smiles. It fills Niall with the familiar flutters. He's learned to just ignore them, suppress them when it becomes a problem. It's not a problem now, though, just makes him feel a bit squirmy. Good squirmy, though.

"I'll just wait with you, then." Liam steps back, glancing down and then bending to pick up a stone and hand it to him. "How's this one?"

Niall looks over it, a smile curling the corners of his mouth. "Perfect," he murmurs, lifting his eyes to meet Liam's. He's not talking about the rock, not really, and the gleam in Liam's eye says that maybe he knows that.

"Good," Liam says softly, tilting his head to the side and waiting for Niall to toss it.

The skip is good, long and the stone skips four or five times before sinking, but the vague triumph doesn't feel nearly as good as Liam's congratulatory squeeze to his shoulder.

\--

_. . . If you walk away, I know I'll fade / 'cause there is nobody else / It's gotta be you. . ._

It's a cold day for filming, but that actually works in their best interest, Niall muses as he shifts, leaning subconsciously closer to Liam while they have a brief moment of down time.

"D'you think he knows how to not be beautiful?" Niall asks absently, watching as the crew film Harry singing in a tweed jacket. He only realizes what he's just said when Liam coughs beside him, and he glances over with a slightly panic-stricken look on his face.

"Not that I - I mean, not that I _wouldn't_ , but - shit," Niall mumbles, scrubbing a hand across his face. "I just mean..."

"I know what you mean," Liam states, offering him a small smile. "He's a little breathtaking, isn't he?"

"Yes," Niall breathes, happy that Liam's understood him. "Yes, he is." He looks back out to where Harry is spinning, smile spreading across his face even as the cameraman urges him to take this a little more seriously. "I don't... Jesus," he murmurs, tilting his head. "How does he _do_ that?"

"Trust me, if I knew, I'd be doing it m'self," Liam assures, laughing softly. "I think it's kind of unique to Harry."

Niall glances at him askance, sure that Liam must be joking. He can't be unaware of how gorgeous he is, can he? "You _do_ do it yourself, though," he ventures cautiously, slightly petrified. "Sometimes," he adds quickly, just in case this doesn't work out well.

Liam laughs even harder, giving him an amused look. "You're taking the piss. You've _met_ Harry, right? He practically _oozes_ sex."

"Alright, so maybe you don't ooze anything," Niall allows. "But you're still... I mean, you're very." He pauses to clear his throat. "You're very attractive. Is what I mean."

Liam smiles at him with slightly raised eyebrows, still the picture of bemused disbelief. "Thanks, I guess," he accepts the compliment. "I'm not saying I'm, you know, a troll, just that Harry's... Harry." He shrugs. "I don't know if anybody can really be like Harry is."

"That's understandable, I guess," Niall murmurs in response, looking back to where Harry has burst into hysterics. Louis's been making stupid faces at him this whole time, and it seems he's finally cracked. "Yeah, that's understandable."

"I think everyone wants to fuck Harry a little," Liam says bluntly, following Niall's gaze. "It's not something anybody can help."

"Yeah," Niall agrees, looking out at the scenery surrounding them. He doesn't dare look back at Liam as he continues. "Like I said." His voice is soft. "Sometimes, you do it too."

There's a beat of silence where Niall degenerates into a mass of paranoia before he feels Liam's hand covering his gently on the rail.

"Thanks," he says quietly, and there's a smile in his voice. "You, too."

Niall can't suppress a snort of disbelief. "Yeah, I don't think so."

He's surprised when Liam grips his shoulder tightly, swinging him round to half-glare at him.

"Hey," he says firmly, looking into Niall's eyes. "I said, _you, too_."

Niall swallows. Liam's other hand is a warm, dry pressure against the side of his neck, and he barely manages a nod. "Thanks," he whispers, his throat devoid of moisture.

Liam gives him a nod before letting go. Niall misses the warm weight almost immediately, but he's fully aware that if Liam hadn't let go, he would have suffered a lack of oxygen. He clears his throat, opening his mouth and then closing it again when he realizes he has no idea what to say.

"I'm gonna grab a drink," Liam says casually, leaning back off of the railing. "Want to come with?"

"Yeah, alright," Niall answers automatically, shaking his head free of the fuzziness that had been clouding it. "Sounds good."

He hardly even notices Harry as they walk around the film crew to get to the cooler of water bottles in the van.

\--

_. . . Now I'm climbing the walls / but you don't notice at all. . ._

Niall's not really thinking when he does it. They're just moving, dancing along to the song, and he's gesturing aimlessly. He's never really gotten the hang of the whole music video movement thing. Is he supposed to just bob around or be more active? He has no idea.

He points at Liam during the line without any ulterior motive, dancing some more as they continue. He steps back once his solo is finished, letting Louis move in front to deliver his own. The look on Liam's face startles him as he turns to catch it, but Liam's good, better at this than Niall, and the look is gone almost too fast. Niall has to wonder if it was only an illusion, but he doesn't think it was. Liam looked... not quite angry, and not quite sad. He looked kind of both, and it was one of Niall's least favorite expressions to ever cross Liam's face.

The take ends, and they relax a little. It's been a long day, Niall thinks, discreetly watching Liam to see if he's still upset, or whatever he was. Liam shoots him a strange look, but doesn't say anything, simply moving on when the crew ask them to reposition.

Finally, it's over, and they all pile into the van to return home. Niall sighs and relaxes back against the seat, totally unprepared when Liam speaks to him, softly so as to not attract the attention of the others.

"Do you really think that?"

Niall looks at him, frowning a little. He honestly has no idea what Liam's talking about. "Do I really think what?" he responds, keeping his voice quiet to match Liam's.

Liam lets out a sigh. "That I don't notice you?" he clarifies, but it only confuses Niall more.

"Er - I don't have any idea what you're referring to, mate." Niall frowns apologetically.

Another weary sigh. "Back there, while we were filming - you pointed at me." Liam's shifting a little uncomfortably now, belatedly realizing that maybe it had only been coincidence.

"Yeah, I point a lot," Niall says slowly. "No idea what else to do with my hands," he admits.

"No, but - During the line in your solo. 'Now I'm climbing the walls, but you don't notice at all,' do you really think I don't notice?" Liam's frown is deep, cutting slight grooves into his cheeks.

"I. . . Did I really?" Niall asks weakly. Shit, maybe his subconscious is getting tired of him being so. . . Yearn-y, all the time.

"Yeah, you really did." Liam worries his lower lip lightly, watching Niall's expression.

"I didn't mean to," Niall mutters. "Sorry, if I made you... Angry?" he guesses.

"No, I'm not angry, just..." Liam sighs yet again. "I just don't want you to think I don't notice you, okay? Because I do."

There it is again, that warm feeling in his stomach. "I know," he says softly. "I know you do."

"Do you?" Liam's voice is intense, his eyes equally so. "Do you know?"

"I. . ." Niall's voice fades. The look in Liam's eyes is scaring him a little.

"He wants to kiss you, idiot!" Louis calls over the seat. "Christ, am I the only one who knows what's going on around here?"

"Shut up, Louis," Harry mutters, and they can hear the sound of his hand impacting with Louis's shoulder. "They were having a moment and you've ruined it, haven't you?"

"It was cute and now you've ruined everything," Zayn agrees. Niall blushes, mortified that they were all just listening to their conversation.

"Shut up, all of you," Liam states, linking his fingers with Niall's. That only makes Niall blush more.

A few catcalls later, the van is silent again, and Liam and Niall remain quiet as well. No more words are exchanged, but after a moment, Liam brings Niall's hand to his mouth, his lips pressing against his skin. They're warm, and Niall's hand is cold, and it feels perfect.

"I did want to kiss you, a bit," Liam murmurs, voice slightly shy.

This is perfect, Niall realizes. Sitting here, surrounded by his best friends, his fingers and Liam's intertwined. This is perfection. He couldn't ask for more.

"Well, I wanted to kiss you a bit, too," he says just as quietly.

He leans up to press their lips together, and not even the loud exclamations from the other boys can ruin this moment.


End file.
